long time no write

I just realized that I have not updated by blog for more than 1 and a half years already. This suggests that life is busy and that we have settled nicely here in NZ. What has happened since I last wrote. Well, we have bought a house - 1087 sq metre house in the heart of the city where everything is 3 minutes away. Then I have gone into teaching having just completed my first yar at one of the top school here in NZ. We will also be travelling to the South island next month to sample the beautiful scenery of NZ in summer- as usual all is booked (kiasu syndrome is still there) even though there will be less tourists.

Merry X'mas and happy 2009.

Weather Cause Havoc in NZ

For the past 1 week or so, the weather has played havoc to NZ. In the South, the weather is so cold that many homes have their water pipes burst. In Taranaki, they experienced tornadoes that wiped out about 50 houses near Oakura. Then in Northland, there was heavy floods that crippled many communities there. Luckily, and touch wood, we in Palmy remain unscathed.

New Update

Hi All,

It has been a while since I wrote in my blog. The fist reason is perhaps, despite my writings in my blogs, I did not received any feedback from anyone except maybe from one or two of you. But recently, I received a few emails telling me that they miss my updates, and now, I have decided to continue with some updates from the Manawatu. The second reason is that I am extremely busy these days, training to be a teacher. If I am not teaching, I am preparing lesson plans, if not I will be doing my assignments. Now, I understand that is why so many teachers here in NZ quit their teaching profession as they are not used to this kind of lifestyles.

Quick updates:

There has been a twister that happened at New Plymouth about a week ago and 50 houses were badly damaged costing the insurance agencies $7 million dollars.

We are now in the midst of winter in NZ and it can be very cold at times.

Junius' soccer team, the Hokowhitu Kiwis, won a Plate event over one weekend where they beat 5 teams and lost to the evntual winner.

I have taught in 2 schools, one in Palmerston North, the other in Fielding, for my teaching practice.

Thats all for now

Teacher Training

As most of you have already known, I am now in my 2nd week of my teachers training. Although it is tough (working in the morning, lectures in the afternoon and more studying at night and early mornings), it is really worth it. Even though I have been teaching, lecturing and tutoring many students back in Singapore, the methods I used then was based on trial and error. I was lucky that most of my students succeeded . Through this course (even though, it has only been 2 weeks), I have learned things like the theories behind the learning, educational psychology, how to motivate students and introduced to the different educational philosophers like Dewey, Steiner and Montesorri. It won't be long too before I get my first teaching experience in one of the local schools in Palmerston. I am really looking forward to this experience.

Happy Chinese New Year 2007 to all my friend and relatives all over the world.

Trip To Wellington

Last weekend, we decided to stay in Wellington for the first time even though we have been there on day trips on several occasions. We got a great deal at one of the city hotel (West Plaza Hotel) right in the heart of town with 3 buffet breakfasts thrown in for $115 nett. We also visited the Wellington Zoo as well as taking the cable car up Kelburn. The cable car was crowded as there was a concert in the park when we went there and the trip to the zoo was interesting especially for Junius. Of course, we had a fair share of eating Malaysian food at KK Malaysia Restaurant (recommended by Shagen) which was very good and this kind of stuff cannot be found in Palmy and I also had laksa at Johnsonville at the foodcourt on the way home to Palmy. On the way back, we again stopped at Lindale where we again enjoyed the country ice cream and Junius enjoyed feeding the animals. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit Otaki Forks (again recommended by Shagen) but we saw the sign on the road. So maybe next time, we may give it a go.

Summer Finally Arrive

Today, it is a warm 26 degrees Celcius signaling the start of the long awaited summer. It has been an exceptionally cold summer so far and people are still wearing winter clothes up until today at least. We have been playing lots of sports though including soccer, cricket and go for swims at the local indoor swimming pool. This Saturday, we are going to Himatangi beach to enjoy the "Big Dig Out" where people pay $2 to have the chance to dig tokens buried in the sands to win prizes.

Trip to Lindale

Last Wednesday during the school holidays just after work, I decided to bring Junius and his good buddy, Wei to visit a farm at Lindale, about, 87 kilometres south of Palmerston. As it was a beautiful sunny day, we drove the beautiful Manawatu and Kapiti countryside before arriving at Lindale just in time for the farm show. The kids had a great time feeding the baby lambs and goats as well as milking a cow during the show. After the show, we had ample time to pat the farm animals including chooks, lambs, sheep, cows, horses, ponys, deers and alpache. On the way home, we even had some time to view the beautiful Kapiti island from Waikanae beach. It wa s a pleasant trip as the kids slept soundly that night.

Happy New Year

To all my friends and relatives in Singapore and the rest of the world, we would like to wish everyone a very happy new year and a great start to another year. Here in Palmy, we had a makan session on New Years' eve and another one on New Years' itself. To lose the extra calories, we have also gone some bushwalking and play lots of sports over the long weekend.

Becoming A Teacher Soon

I was recently accepted to do a teaching course here at Massey and very soon, I will be a qualified teacher here in NZ. As there are shortage of teachers here in NZ, especially in Mathematics, I will undergo a 35 week training course with half of them (18 weeks) being attachment at local schools. I am also lucky is that as a Maths teacher(there is a real shortage), the NZ government is actually paying me NZ$10,000 to study. Not bad , eh. Getting paid to study and in the meantime still working at NZ Post.

Christmas Is Just Around The Corner

The shops and the shopping mall are getting crowded by the day, we are having massive sales by major retailers, houses are decorated with lights and christmas decorations are all over town, so you know that Christmas is just around the corner. To all my friends and relatives both here in NZ and Singapore, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy 2007.

Family Came To Palmy

For the past 1 week, my family came to visit us in Palmy. It was great to see our family again after separating for slightly more than 1 year. One of my nieces have grown much taller and is even taller than her mum. We had great time catching up with each other, visiting places in the Manawatu and eating out everyday of the week. I really hope my family had a great time here in Palmy and the weather was awesome. It will not be long soon before we ourselves make our trip back to Singapore and Penang to visit friends and relatives too.

Summer Fruits Are Beginning To Appear

We are noticing quite a few summer fruits appearing at the supermarkets. Cherries, strawberries and apricots are now being sold and very soon, nectarines, plums, peaches, grapes and many more will follow soon. Summer is the time for fruit lovers including myself.

Dinner Kiwi Style

Last night, we decided to have dinner Kiwi style, that is, eating out at the park and having fish and chips from a nearby take-away shop. The weather was warm and just nice and so was the surroundings rose gardens. On top of that, we had the company of birds at the park which we fed with the chips. We left the rose garden at 8pm but it was still bright as summer is just around the corner.

Wet and Windy November

The past month of November have been pretty wet as well as windy here in Palmy. It was much wetter and colder than when we arrived last November. We are still wearing our "woolies" and the fruit trees at our backyards are still at the early stage of ripening. Hopefully, the weather will change for the better come December.

Rugby World Cup 2011

Even before the first ball was kicked for the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France next year, the politicains have been busy deciding on the venue for the 2011 WC which NZ will be hosting. There are 3 options at the moment - to build a new stadium along Auckland waterfront, to rebuild Eden Park or refurbish the torn downCarlaw Park. With too many pros and cons for the 3 venues, the politicians will have their hands full before making their final decision.

Global Warming

The global warming phenomena that has affected many countries was clearly evident this week in New Zealand when several of the iceberg from Antartica came floating off Otago coast. As for the helicopters operators, it was good business as they charge $500 for both the local and foreign tourists to view the beautiful iceberg from a close distance. The signs of global warming are there for all to see and if we do not heed them, then trouble is just around the corner.

Summer is Here

After battling the bitter cold for the most of the last 6 months, we will soon be into the swing of summer. The kids are wearing summer clothes, riding on bikes and scooters and very soon will be asked to bring "togs" to school for swimming classes. The weather has just been fantastic, around the early 20s, just like air con temperature while at night, it still can get a little chilly, around the early teens. The nights are getting brighter too. The sun rises at around 5.30 in the morning and set only at around 9 pm. As we get into summer, we will get more sunlight hours and it will only get dark at around 10 at night. So, if anyone intending to visit NZ, now is the time as the climate is milder and you get to travel for longer hours.

Guy Fawkes Day

This was the 2nd Guy Fawkes day that we have experienced here in NZ. It was a very colourful day as most Kiwis will buy fireworks from the supermarkets and stores and lit the sky up till late at night. Being very "suaku", we drove down the streets along Palmerston North from 9pm onwards and see the night skies being lit up by residents. Only from reports in the press, we realised that it is actually a dangerous day for the firemen and as many as 1700 fires were reported throughout the country on this day itself.

United Nations Day

TYesterdaay marked the United Nations Day and there were a gathering of about 100 nationalities at the Convention Centre in Palmerston North representing 100 different countries. Most of the participants dressed up in traditional costumes and there were lion dance performance from the Kung Fu School (and Junius is one of them) as well as drum performance by the International Pacific College.

Kathina

Yesterday, we made our day trip to Wellington and visit the Stokes Valley monastry for the kathina celebration. This is a ceremony where lay people gives robes to the monk annually. There were about a couple of hundreds of people at the monastry including Thais, Laotians, Cmbodians, SriLankans, Malaysians, Singaporeans and quite a number of Kiwis. We had a dana too where everyone bring a dish to share and you can imagine the amount of food brought into the monastry. On the way hoe, we visited one of our friend who has just moved from Tawa to Paraparaumu.